The apparatus in this respect comprises an object recognition device for detecting the workpieces and a gripper for gripping and removing the workpieces from the container; a control for evaluating the data of the object recognition device, for path planning and for controlling the gripper; and a buffer station on which the gripper places the workpieces down after the removal from the container. Provision is furthermore made in this respect that the workpieces are picked up from the buffer station by a gripper and are placed down in a target placement area. The target placement area can in particular be a workpiece placement area of a transport device, a machining device and/or an assembly device.
Such an apparatus is known, for example, from EP 2679352 A1 whose content is incorporated by reference in full as a subject matter of the present disclosure. In this respect, the workpieces are removed from the container by a magnetic gripper, are placed down on the buffer station in an unordered manner and are picked up from the buffer station again with higher precision by a mechanical gripper.
An apparatus from the removal of workpieces arranged in a container in an unordered manner is furthermore known from EP 2698234 A2, whose content is incorporated in full by reference as a subject of the present application, in which apparatus the removal from the container and the placing down on a target placement area takes place directly without any interposition of a buffer station, and indeed in particular via the use of a gripper arm element which has one or two additional axes and at which a mechanical gripper is arranged.
However, to be able to remove all the workpieces from the container by means of the gripper, a number of possible gripping positions of the gripper at the workpiece must be permitted which is as high as possible and which is preferably unrestricted, in order thus to have as many degrees of freedom available with respect to the movement of the gripper. Critical parts in the container can also only be gripped in this manner. For due to the specific location of a workpiece within the container, there is typically only a very restricted subgroup of all theoretically permitted gripping positions available.
However, due to the workpiece contour and/or to the contour of the gripper, not every gripping position which could be used on gripping in the container allows an exactly positioned placing down of the workpiece at a predefined target placement area. If, however, only those gripping positions for removal from the container are permitted which allow such an exactly positioned and predefined placing down of the workpiece, a 100% emptying of the container is hereby impaired or even prevented.
It is therefore the object of the present disclosure to provide an apparatus for the automated removal of workpieces arranged in a container which, on the one hand, allows a maximum emptying of the container and, on the other hand, allows an exactly positioned, pre-oriented and/or flexible placing down of the workpiece.
This object is achieved in accordance with the present disclosure by an apparatus for the automated removal of workpieces arranged in a container that comprises an object recognition device for detecting the workpieces and a gripper for the gripping and removal of the workpieces from the container. A control is furthermore provided for evaluating the data of the object recognition device, for path planning and for controlling the gripper, as well as a buffer station on which the gripper places down the workpieces after the removal from the container. The control of the apparatus is configured in this respect such that the workpieces are picked up from the buffer station by a gripper in an automated manner and are placed down in a target placement area. The target placement area can in particular be a workpiece placement area of a transport device, a machining device and/or an assembly device. In accordance with the present disclosure, the buffer station in this respect has at least two different workpiece placement areas for placing down the workpieces in at least two different, defined placement positions. The apparatus is preferably used in this respect in accordance with the present disclosure for the removal of workpieces arranged in the container in an unordered manner.
Contrary to the prior art in accordance with EP 2679352 A2, the placing down on the buffer station thus does not take place in an unordered manner, but rather in a plurality of limited positions fixedly predefined by the workpiece placement areas. The position and alignment of the workpieces on the buffer station is hereby known after the placement thereon; no further scan is necessary. The placing down on the buffer station in particular takes place in a position and alignment defined by the respective workpiece placement areas. The gripping positions with which the workpieces can be gripped in the container are, however, less restricted than in the direct placing down of a workpiece in a single predefined target placement area due to the at least two different workpiece placement areas on the buffer station which are provided in accordance with the present disclosure. This in turn allows a better, and in one example 100%, emptying of the container.
In a possible embodiment, a maximum of one workpiece is in this respect located on the buffer station at any one time.
In an alternative embodiment, the buffer station can serve as a buffer in that more than one workpiece is placed on the buffer placement area. Such a procedure is in particular of advantage on the use of two grippers to compensate differences in the cycle times. The cycle times for the gripping in the container and the placing down on the buffer station can in this respect vary considerably depending on the gripping point at the workpiece in the container and on the position of the workpiece in the container. In this respect, in dependence on the workpiece just to be gripped, the picking up from the buffer station and the placing down in the target placement area can in particular take place more slowly than the gripping in the container and the placing down on the buffer station. More than one workpiece can in particular be placed down on the buffer station in phases in which the cycle time for the gripping from the container is smaller than the cycle time for the placing down on the target placement area which are picked up in phases in which the cycle time for the gripping from the container is greater than the cycle time for the placing down on the target placement area.
The buffer station advantageously has more workpiece placement areas for this purpose than would be necessary for the placing down of a workpiece having arbitrary gripping points. The buffer station can in particular comprise at least two examples of every kind of workpiece placement area. The buffer station can in this respect also at least have separate subunits of which each considered per se could serve as a buffer station in accordance with the present disclosure for a workpiece.
The gripping of the workpieces in the container in this respect advantageously takes place with a plurality of different permitted gripping positions. All the gripping positions with which the gripper can grip a workpiece are permitted in this respect. The emptying is hereby improved. The buffer station in this respect can have so many different workpiece placement areas that at least one workpiece placement area at which the workpiece can be placed down on the buffer station is available for substantially every permitted gripping position on the gripping of the workpieces in the container.
The selection of the workpiece placement area of the buffer station used for the placing down in this respect optionally takes place on the basis of the gripping position with which the workpiece is or was removed from the container.
In a possible embodiment in this respect, the workpiece placement area in which the workpiece is placed down on the buffer station is already determined before or during the gripping of a workpiece in the container so that the available workpiece placement areas can already enter into the selection of the gripping position for gripping in the container.
In a preferred embodiment, the selection of the workpiece placement area used for the placement in contrast only takes place when a gripping of the workpiece in the container has taken place. The time which is required for the removal of the workpiece from the container can hereby be used for the determination of the workpiece placement areas usable for placement and for selecting the workpiece placement area.
In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, the selection of the workpiece placement area in this respect takes place on the basis of a predefined association between specific gripping positions and specific workpiece placement areas. A plurality of predefined gripping positions at which the workpieces can be gripped can in particular be defined at the workpiece. They may be associated with one or more workpiece placement areas which can generally receive a workpiece gripped in such a gripping position. The selection can in particular take place between the gripping positions and the workpiece placement areas via a query of an association table stored in the control.
Provision can furthermore be made in accordance with the present disclosure that the gripping of the workpieces in the container takes place using a plurality of different permitted gripping points. Such permitted gripping points can then be associated with specific workpiece placement areas as described above.
It is furthermore possible that the gripping of the workpieces in the container can also take place in permitted gripping regions extending about such gripping points. A specific offset with respect to certain gripping points can in particular be allowed in the gripping.
A predefined association between permitted gripping regions and workpiece placement areas can also be used here for selecting the workpiece placement area.
Alternatively or additionally, however, a collision test can also take place in which a check is made using a geometrical model whether a collision-free placing down of a workpiece gripped in a specific gripping position on a workpiece placement area of the buffer station is possible. The collision test can in this respect take place before the gripping of the workpiece in the container. It is thus avoided that a gripped workpiece cannot be placed down on the buffer station and has to be placed back down in the container again. In an alternative embodiment, this collision test takes place in contrast after the gripping of the workpiece in the container. The time in which the workpiece is removed from the container can hereby be utilized to carry out the collisions test. In a further preferred embodiment, the collision test can take place in parallel with the gripping process to reduce cycle times.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, a selection of the workpiece placement areas on which a placing down is potentially possible first takes place in this respect by a predefined association between permitted gripping points or permitted gripping regions and the workpiece placement areas. A collision test is optionally arranged downstream of this which checks whether a collision-free placing down on at least one of the workpiece placement areas is actually possible. If this is not the case, the workpiece may be not gripped or is placed down in the container again.
In the collision test, a geometrical model of both the buffer station and of the gripper and the workpiece can be used in this respect in order reliably to recognize collisions on the placing down of a workpiece on the buffer station.
A sensor can furthermore be provided which determines the gripping position of the gripper after the gripping in the container and before the placing down on the buffer position. A change in the gripping position intended on the gripping in the container can hereby be recognized which can be caused, for example, by a slipping of the workpiece at the gripper. The selection of the workpiece placement area on the buffer station and/or the collision test optionally takes/take place on the basis of the gripping position determined by the sensor. A camera or a laser distance sensor can be used as the sensor, for example. The sensor is optionally arranged at the buffer station, wherein the gripper first moves the workpiece into the region of the sensor after the taking out of the container before a placing down on the buffer station takes place. The sensor can further optionally be arranged between the container and the buffer station.
In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, a decision is made in dependence on the gripping position with which the workpiece was gripped in the container as to whether the workpiece is first placed down on the buffer station in order to be picked up from there again or is placed down directly at the target placement area. Some gripping points can be provided in this respect at which a direct placing down on the target placement area takes place and other gripping points can be provided which make a placing down on the buffer station necessary. The decision can in this respect take place in a possible embodiment after the gripping position was determined via a sensor.
Specific gripping points on the gripping in the container can furthermore optionally be selected, in particular those which require a direct placing down on a target placement area or a smaller cycle time on the placing down and picking back up on the buffer placement area than other gripping points and/or gripping points which allow a secure gripping. If therefore a plurality of workpieces are present in the container which have to be gripped, the selection of the actually gripped workpiece advantageously takes place with reference to the respective available gripping points.
In accordance with the present disclosure, the picking up of the workpiece from the buffer station optionally takes place with fewer permitted gripping positions than the gripping in the container. The buffer station thus provides a reduction of the permitted gripping positions. The workpiece can in this respect may always be gripped from the buffer station with a gripping position which allows a clear, predefined placing down in a target placement area. The gripping from the buffer station in this respect allows the placing down of all workpieces in a single predefined position and/or alignment and/or at a single type of target placement area.
The picking up of the workpiece from the buffer station in this respect may only take place with a single gripping position or with the gripping positions which permit a final placing down in the end position.
In a possible first embodiment of the present disclosure, the same gripper is used for gripping the workpieces from the container and for the removal from the buffer placement area.
Alternatively, two separate grippers are used for gripping the workpieces from the container and for picking them from the buffer placement area. The use of two separate grippers in this respect increases the cycle speed since the first gripper is already again used for gripping a workpiece from the container while the second gripper is picking up a workpiece from the buffer placement area and is placing it down at the target placement area. The two separate grippers are in this respect optionally moved by separate gripping arms.
In accordance with the present disclosure, the gripper for gripping the workpieces in the container and/or for picking them up from the buffer placement area can be a magnetic gripper, a pneumatic gripper or a mechanical gripper, optionally also a combination of these options, particularly optionally a mechanical gripper. Such a mechanical gripper allows a higher gripping precision. It can in particular be a finger gripper or a jaw gripper. The gripper is in this respect optionally arranged cropped at the gripper arm or at a gripper arm extension. The gripper can in particular be configured as is known from EP 2679352 A1 for the gripper for removing the workpieces from the buffer station and as is known from EP 2698234 A2 for the gripper for the removal of workpieces from the container. It can in particular be a two-finger gripper. If in this respect two separate grippers are used for gripping the workpieces in the container and for removing them from the buffer station, identically designed grippers can be used for this purpose in a possible embodiment. However, different grippers are optionally used since higher demands are to be made on the gripper for the gripping in the container than those for the picking up from the buffer station.
The gripping of the workpieces from the container takes place in accordance with the present disclosure using the data of an object recognition device. Any desired system which allows the identification of the workpieces and the selection of a workpiece suitable for gripping can generally be used as an object recognition device.
If the position of the workpieces in the container is known in advance, for example because they are arranged in order in the container, the object recognition device can optionally also only take place using such already known positional data.
The detection of the workpieces, however, advantageously comprises a data logging by a measurement process. An identification of the individual workpieces in the detection zone from which a workpiece suitable for gripping is selected then takes place by evaluating the data. The possible gripping positions with which such a workpiece can be gripped are optionally determined in this respect and a gripping position suitable for gripping is selected. The movement of the gripper or of the gripping arm moving it is then planned on the basis of the position data of the workpiece and on the selected gripping position. In this respect, a collision test can be carried out so that a movement routine is selected in which the gripper or the gripping arm does not collide with interfering edges such as the other workpieces and/or the side walls of the container. The gripper or the gripping arm is then controlled using the data thus calculated.
In this respect, in particular optical sensors are used as the object detection device, with in particular laser sensors and/or image sensors being able to be used. The sensors can in this respect work in two dimensions, two-and-a-half dimensions or three dimensions. A 3D laser scanner may be used in this respect.
The object recognition device for detecting the workpieces in the container is in this respect optionally arranged in its measurement position above the container.
The detection of the workpieces, the track planning and the gripping and removal of the workpieces from the container can in particular take place such as is known from EP 2698234 A2 and/or EP 2679352 A1
In a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, a repeat object recognition of the workpiece can take place on the buffer station so that the picking up of the workpiece from the buffer station takes place on the basis of this repeat object recognition.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the picking up of the workpiece from the buffer station takes place, however, on the basis of the known position of the used workpiece placement area and on the known shape of the workpiece. The picking up in this respect may take place without a previous object recognition of the workpiece on the buffer station or at least with a less complex object recognition than with the gripping in the container. The cycle time can hereby be reduced.
The buffer placement area can, in accordance with the present disclosure, comprise an adjustment arrangement which allows a change of the position and/or alignment of a workpiece placed on the buffer placement area and/or of a placing element. The position and/or alignment of the workpiece at the buffer station after the placing down can hereby be changed or a placing element can be traveled away from the workpiece to release a gripping point.
The positional change of the workpiece and/or of a placing element thus optionally allows the picking up of the workpieces with a gripping point which was not available in the placement position. A gripping switch on the buffer station can hereby take place, i.e. the picking up can take place using a different gripping point.
The adjustment arrangement is in this respect optionally used to move the workpiece from the placement position in which it was placed down on the buffer station into a defined pick-up position. In this pick-up position, the workpiece is optionally gripped to be placed down on a target placement area.
A workpiece which was placed down gripped at an inner contour can in this respect, for example, be moved by the adjustment arrangement into a pick-up position which allows a gripping at an outer contour, or vice versa.
The adjustment arrangement can in this respect carry out a rotation, a pivoting and/or a displacement of the workpiece. In a possible embodiment, a linear displacement of the workpiece is carried out in this respect.
Provision can in particular be made in this respect to travel the workpieces into one or more defined pick-up positions. Provision can in particular be made in this respect that the adjustment arrangement can nevertheless travel workpieces which were placed down into different workpiece placement areas into an identical pick-up position. Fewer pick-up positions than workpiece placement areas are optionally provided in this respect. Only one or two pick-up positions can in particular be provided in this respect.
The buffer station may be structured such that the position of at least one of the workpiece placement areas is kinematically adjustable. In particular, at least one drive can be provided via which the adjustment takes place. The adjustment can in particular take place on the basis of the gripping position with which the workpiece is or was removed from the container. The respectively used workpiece placement area can in particular be traveled into a placement position and/or into a pick-up position. The traveling of the workpiece placement area can take place before the placing down on the buffer station or during or after the placing down has taken place.
The traveling of the workpiece placement area can in particular be used, despite the placing down of the workpieces in different workpiece placement areas, to be able to place them in a coinciding placement position and/or orientation and/or to be able to pick up the workpieces from the buffer station in only one pick-up position despite the placing down in different workpiece placement areas.
In accordance with the present disclosure, the buffer station can have at least one kinematically adjustable placing element. In this respect at least one drive can in particular be provided via which the adjustment takes place. The kinematic adjustment of the placing element can in this respect be used for different purposes.
It is, for example, conceivable to provide at least two different workpiece placement areas by an adjustment of the placing element. A placement region can in particular be shifted from a first workpiece placement area into a second workpiece placement area by the adjustment of a placing element. The adjustment of the placing element then optionally takes place in dependence on the gripping position of the workpiece.
Alternatively or additionally, the travelable placing element can provide an adjustment arrangement which, as described above, travels a workpiece into a pick-up position after the placing down on the buffer station.
Alternatively or additionally, a gripping point can be exposed at the workpiece by the traveling of the placing element, with which gripping point the workpiece can then be picked up from the buffer station.
In accordance with the present disclosure, the buffer station can have at least one nest into which a workpiece can be placed and it can have at least one pin on which a workpiece can be placed. The nest can in particular have side walls and placement points, with the side walls at least partly surrounding the peripheral contour of the workpiece. The side walls can in particular be arranged at a slant in order thus to allow a centration of the workpiece in the nest. The pin may be configured such that the workpiece can be placed onto the pin using a cut-out and/or an inner contour. The placing can optionally take place on a plurality of pins which accordingly form a workpiece placement area.
The buffer station can comprise a plurality of different nests and/or a plurality of different workpiece placement areas formed by pins.
A plurality of identical nests and/or a plurality of identical pins can furthermore be provided. A buffer function of the buffer station can hereby be provided.
An optimization of the cycle times can take place by the use of the buffer station as a buffer since, depending on the gripping positions present at the workpiece and on predefined placing positions, the cycle time of the gripping into the container can vary and the pick-up and positioning into a predefined end placement area can be faster than the container removal. The cycle times then have to be coordinated with one another and the buffer station configured in accordance with the present disclosure can act as a buffer and prevent a standstill of the plant or a waiting of the individual operations for one another.
At least one pin can optionally be travelable. The travelability of such a pin can in particular be used to provide different workpiece placement areas. The position of a first pin can in particular be variable with respect to a second pin.
Alternatively or additionally, the travelability of the pin can allow a raising of a workpiece placed into a nest on the pin and/or a lowering of a workpiece placed on the pin into a nest. Despite the possibility of placing on the pin or into the nest by a corresponding traveling of the pin, this allows only one pick-up position to be provided for these two placement possibilities. The pin is in this respect optionally arranged beneath the nest and can be moved through an opening in the region of the base area of the nest and can be brought into engagement with the workpiece.
In a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the buffer station has at least two nests and/or at least two pins. The two pins can in this respect optionally be adjustable with respect to one another in order hereby to provide two different workpiece placement areas. Alternatively or additionally, each of the two nests can be travelable over the pin or pins such that a raising of a workpiece placed into the nest or a lowering of a workpiece placed on the pin or pins into the nest can take place.
The nests are in this respect advantageously arranged on a carriage by means of which the nests can be traveled over the pin or pins. A lift drive is in this respect further optionally provided via which the pin or pins are adjustable with respect to the nests or with respect to one another. Two lift drives, in particular electrical cylinders, pneumatic cylinders or hydraulic cylinders, are in this respect optionally provided, with the one lift drive allowing a raising of the pins with respect to the nests and the other allowing an adjustment of the positions of the pins.
A pick-up of the workpieces from the buffer station may take place only from a position in which the workpieces lie on the pins or only from a position in which the workpieces lie in a nest. The picking up is optionally from a position in which the workpieces lie on the pins since the lying on the pins brings about smaller positional deviations.
In accordance with the present disclosure, the gripper for gripping the workpieces from the container and/or for picking up from the buffer placement area is optionally moved by a gripper arm. If two separate grippers are provided in this respect, two separate gripping arms are also optionally used.
The gripping arm is advantageously a robot arm of a six-axis robot. Alternatively, it can be a gripping arm arranged at an area gantry or at a linear gantry.
The gripping arm optionally has a gripping arm element having at least one, and optionally two additional axes. The gripping arm and the gripping arm element are optionally configured as is shown in EP 2698234 A2.
If two separate grippers are used for the removal of the workpieces from the container and for picking them up from the buffer station, at least the gripper for the removal of the workpieces from the container is optionally moved via a robot arm or via an area gantry or linear gantry which, as shown above, optionally has a gripping arm element having one or optionally two additional axes.
In a possible embodiment, the second gripper used for picking up the workpieces from the buffer station can also be moved via such a gripping arm.
However, the gripping tasks for the second gripper used for picking up are by no means as complex as that for the gripping from the container. The gripper for picking up the workpieces from the buffer station can therefore also be moved by a simple transport device having only one or two linear or rotary axes. Alternatively, the use of a robot arm, in particular of a six-axis robot, is also conceivable, but without a gripping arm element having additional axes.
The apparatus in accordance with the present disclosure optionally has a control by which the above-described procedures and steps are carried out automatically. If it was described in this respect with regard to the configuration of the apparatus that it can be used for a specific mode of operation, a control is optionally provided via which this mode of operation is automatically implemented.
The apparatus can in this respect have a first control component by which the control of the gripper on the removal of the workpieces from the container and on the placing down on the buffer placement area takes place and/or can have a second control component via which the control of the gripper on the pick-up from the buffer placement area and on the placing down on the target placement area takes place.
The first control component in this respect optionally calculates the movement of the gripper in dependence on the selected gripping point and/or on the workpiece placement area provided for the placing down on the buffer station. The calculation can take place at least partly or completely in a period after the gripping of the workpiece in the container and while the gripper having the workpiece is already being moved in the direction of the buffer station.
In this respect, the first control component can move the gripper after the picking up of a workpiece from the container in the direction of or toward a predefined transfer position from where the further movement of the gripper for placing down on the buffer station takes place. The complete path of the gripper up to the placing down on the buffer station hereby does not yet have to be known on the gripping in the container. The movement of the gripper from the transfer position to the placing down on the buffer station can rather be calculated while the gripper is moving from the pick-up of the workpiece in the container to the transfer position. The path can optionally be divided into a plurality of regions and accordingly a plurality of transfer positions can be provided.
The first control component can comprise a passive and an active control part, wherein a track planning for the movement of the gripper takes place by the passive control part, in particular in dependence on the gripping position, while the active control part controls the kinematics for moving the gripper and in particular a robot arm used for this purpose with reference to the track planning.
The second control component in contrast optionally moves the gripper on one or more predefined tracks stored in the control.
Provision can furthermore be made that the first control component also controls the gripper, in dependence on the gripping point and/or on the gripping quality, up to the direct placing down of the workpiece on the target placement area so that the second control component would not be used for such a workpiece. One or more predefined transfer positions can here also advantageously be provided within the movement routine.
The present disclosure furthermore comprises a buffer station for an apparatus such as was described above. The buffer station in accordance with the present disclosure has at least two different workpiece placement areas for the placing down of the workpiece in at least two different, defined placement positions.
The buffer station is optionally configured such as was already described above with respect to the apparatus in accordance with the present disclosure. The buffer station can in particular have a kinematically adjustable workpiece placement area and/or a kinematically adjustable placing element. In this respect at least one drive can in particular be provided via which the adjustment takes place.
In addition to the apparatus in accordance with the present disclosure, the present disclosure furthermore comprises a method for the automatic removal of workpieces arranged in a container. The method in this respect comprises the steps:                detecting the workpieces;        gripping at least one workpiece using a gripper,        removing the workpiece from the container,        placing down the workpiece on a buffer station; and        gripping the workpiece using a gripper and picking up the workpiece from the buffer station.        
Provision is made in accordance with the present disclosure that the workpieces are placed down, after the removal from the container, in at least two different, defined placement positions on the buffer station. The placement position with which the workpieces are placed down on the buffer station can in particular be selected in dependence on a gripping position of the gripper on the gripping of the workpiece in the container. In this respect, more gripping positions are optionally permitted for gripping the workpiece in the container than on the gripping of the workpiece from the buffer placement area.
The workpiece is optionally positioned from the buffer placement area in a target placement area. For example, it can be a transport path, a store, a nest or the receiver of a processing machine. For example, a belt without specifically predefined reception zones can be used as an end receiver, with in this case the workpieces optionally being placed on the belt in a predefined pattern.
The method in accordance with the present disclosure is optionally carried out such as was already described above with respect to the apparatus in accordance with the present disclosure. The method in accordance with the present disclosure further optionally takes place using the apparatus in accordance with the present disclosure.
The present disclosure will now be described in more detail with reference to an embodiment and to drawings.